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My Dad got his first car, a Mk 1 Ford Cortina in the mid-1960s and started to pack the whole family up in it annually to visit the RAFA air display at the famous ex-Battle of Britain North Weald airfield from then on and into the 70s. I can clearly remember sitting on the bonnet (hood) of the car with my feet dangling at the 1965 display when with no warning one of 111 Squadron’s Lightning F3s flew directly over my head from behind at low level in the middle of the display team in line abreast, before lighting the burners and climbing vertically up into the blue yonder to form a diamond nine formation. The infamous Lightning rapid pitch up and climb out. I well remember my guts resonating along with the 18 Avon engines and then after what seemed like an eternity of relative silence when they had climbed to altitude, only then did dogs start barking and the crowd start shouting! Quite the way to make an awestriking entrance to a display back then, which with the heightened display safety measures in force now would never be allowed. This was the moment in which I caught the aviation bug which persists to this day. On reading the Aeroplane Icon publication “Lightning” when researching the model, I learned that I was lucky to witness the third to last multi-ship RAF Lightning display ever! 111 Sqn had been selected to display at the Paris show that year and the North Weald show was presumably a practice outing for this, along with one further display at RAF Bentwaters. After 1965 the RAF only ever flew Lightning singleton displays as a cost saving. The Red Arrows formed in 1965 and took on the RAFs formation display role from then on. I’m sorry Red Arrows, but for me nine Gnats, or Hawks could never match the sheer body pummelling presence of nine Lightnings! “Lightning” also informed me that the F3 was the fastest of the Lightning marks, with uprated RR Avon 301Rs, the original 247 gal capacity ventral tank and the larger square tipped dorsal fin introduced to counter yaw instability caused by carrying the Red Top missiles, which were larger than the Firestreak missiles carried by earlier marks. F3s also lacked the decreased outer wing sweep and conical camber that reduced transonic drag. This improved wing planform was originally fitted to the P1B Prototype during early development, but only got fitted to the F2A and F6 later in the 60s! No cannons fitted either to the F3, and no Aden cannon ventral pack like the Mk 6, so entirely reliant on the two IR homing missiles. This model of the Squadron Leader’s mount - XR711 was built out of the box, but with the addition of some improved aftermarket seat and cockpit components, plus some photo etch dorsal radio aerials. This was my first foray into using airbrushed metalizing lacquers (Alclad 2) and the finish is a bit suspect in parts, especially so on the rear fuselage sides, but it’s still a worthy reminder of a key childhood experience. Maybe, just maybe, it’s the actual aircraft that flew directly over the top of me so many years ago? The Airfix decals are a bit thin, which makes settling them down easy, but the big yellow fin and fuselage decals proved to be a bit too translucent on top of the black painted sections. If I was to build it again, I’d make sure I applied a yellow undercoat before applying these decals or skipped using them altogether and just sprayed in the yellow sections. Interesting factoid. The 3 blades on the Maltese cross aren’t meant to be Scimitars, but Seaxes as also found on the County of Essex coat of arms. The Seax was the large single edge knife carried by every self-respecting Anglo-Saxon gent. A sort of East Saxon Swiss army knife?

Hi comrades! My next project will be Airfix Lightning in 1/48. I have F.6 boxing and I will build the Saudi F.53 model in NMF. Why RSAF - because they use Lightnings in real combat over the Yemen, why NMF - this is the livery of every RSAF Lightnings most of their service life. Combat load will be underwing Matra 155 rocket pods. The pods will be from Reskit, pylons will be scratch built, dedicated sources - here: The model will be riveted (it means the long build), otherwise NMF will look wrong Planned aftermarket: Engine nozzles - Aires Seat - Quickboost Pitot - Master Cockpit - Eduard old (not painted) brass Wheels - Armory Decals - Model Alliance REferences - internet, book "on target" and Ukrainian "Aviation and Time" magazine with riveting drawing

A couple of months ago I was keeping Sword web site monitored, waiting for the release of their 1/48 Reggiane RE2005 Sagittario. My friend @Gene K kindly provided me with the heads up for this very interesting Italian WWII fighter kit, and once it became available, I just had to throw in something to justify the shipment cost, as you do ... So my choice fell on something very British, to wit Sword's Lightning, in 1/72 T4/T5 boxing (end opening box, they should be decalred illegal! ) Since I didn't feel like starting the Sagittario yet, being rather still in a jet mojo, I decided to tackle this. The kit contains only two sprues (the loose piece is the cockpit tub, which separated from its sprue gate due to its weird positioning, middle right in the above pic) the transparencies and some nice complementary bits, like resin exhausts resin seats and a photo-etch fret, mostly pre-painted The decals/transfers sheet is quite big and looks good Instructions seem to be well laid out, although the colors call out is generic and finally, these are the proposed schemes Now, in my recently completed Eurofighter Typhoon WIP thread, I conducted a little poll among fellow BMers on which scheme to build, and the general preference went to the 111 Squadron bird (which coincidentally was also my preference ), but here commence the trouble: the proposed aircraft is a T4, while, as @keefr22 pointed out and a quick search on the 'net confirmed, the IP photoetch is only good for a T5. So what choices do I have? - Build it as 111's T4 and pretend nobody knows the IP is incorrect (that really bothers me, though) - Scratch build a suitable T4 IP (the above mentioned quick search didn't show any pics of it though, so any hint or help would be appreciated) - Choose one of the two T5 schemes in the box (none of them is actually enticing enough to me, but I'm not ruling them out yet) or .... while searching for references, I ended up finding this website lightningt5.com, with loads of pics of this airframe (posted for modelling purposes, will remove if asked) Of course the serials and tail letters are different, but I was already going to cut my own masks for the markings (except for the squadron badge, of course). The trouble is about the small serials on the fuselage sides (XS458); actually, mixing up the ones that already are on the decals sheet, I can go as far as XS45, I just miss a couple of 8.... Bottom line, I'm asking for expertise here to help guiding my choice What do you guys think? Ciao

Hi comrades! I'm on preparation to build the RSAF EE Lightning F.53 from Airfix F.6 boxing. The most exciting option (IMHO) is to build this pure interceptor with underwing bombs or rocket pods. So far I can't find any good enough info to scratch build those pylons. I search mostly for good close-up photos of the pylon. If we will find good info - it's possibility to one of good aftermarket companies to produce those pylons in resin. So, if anybody interested in such an option to build ground attack version of Lightning - we need just good photos of the pylons - to (may be) get them available in resin...

My 1/72 Novo lightning with aftermarket decals, handpainted with home enamels. next to my Novo Hunter of the Chilean airforce.

Hi everyone, much to my annoyance, Trumpeter didn’t include the refueling probe on their Lightning’s. How do I tell which birds were issued the probe? I’m trying to build F.3 XR749/DA of the Lightning Training Flight of RAF Brinbrook. I also intend to build a 74Sdn F.6 based out of Tengah and the Airfix instructions just stick a giant question mark next to the diagram of the probe.

Hello mates! I want to build the Saudi AF EE Lightning Mk53 in 1/48. What Airfix boxing I need to buy? What modifications I need to do? I saw decals by Model Alliance, are they of good quality? Thanks in advance

An imagined interception of a Miyashishev Bison, somewhere over the North Sea in the '60's Both planes and sea are modelled in Modo with a little postwork in Photoshop..

Good afternoon, morning, evening wherever you are in the world! Allow me to present my take on XS927 an English Electric Lightning F.6: This is the now discontinued 1/72 kit from Airfix, built out of the box with the only customisation being some improvements to the cockpit, ejection seat and a stretched sprue pitot. Painted using AK Interactive Xtreme Metal Enamels, primarily polished aluminium. I learnt quite a bit on this one regarding NMF's and using metal repair tape for some even more shiny bits Sealed using AK Interactive Intermediate Gauzy which is a satin/specular varnish designed to go over NMF and then treated to usual oil paint weathering. The kit was quite challenging in places, needed a bit more patience than I anticipated and I think Airfix could have made some better design decisions, particularly when it came to the undercarriage, nose joins and belly seams which took an age to get right and even then, mine are not perfect by any shot. A mostly up to date WIP can be found here: Hope you enjoy, as ever comments, questions always welcome JB

Hi, I am going to enter the F6 Lightning XR 753 in NMF finish with white tail and spine based on the Airfix kit with tons of aftermarket stuff. I collected the kit and extras over several years and now it is time to build this. Included are - apart from the Airfix 1:48 kit - an Aires and a CMK cockpit (no idea why I have both - any suggestions which one to use?); Aires exhausts (which I already painted once I had the airbrush loaded for another kit); CMK U/C; Aeroclub canopy, nose ring and wheels; Master pitot tube; Eduard masks and Xtradecals sheet (I did my own decals for this maschine but then Xtradecals released their sheet - so to play safe I got their sheet as well...). I guess I have listed everything... Edit: No there is a mistake - the wheels are part of the CMK u/c set - but I got Aeroclubs metal u/c as well plus CMK control surfaces. Here is the prommised pic which was missing in the original post: I am really looking forward to this one Rene

Hello all My father in law worked on Lightnings with 5 Squadron at RAF Binbrook in the early 70s, and I'm hoping to make him a replica of a machine he may have worked on from that era as a surprise and a reminder of his time there. I've got the Airfix kit, but am struggling to find appropriate decals. I saw CT Modeller's build in 1/72 of a Lightning in the scheme I'm looking to do (http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234958536-5-squadron-lightning-f6/) but the research I've done so far into decal options at 1/48 doesn't provide any options for a 5 Squadron lightning from that era, like this one below. Does anyone know of any decals that might be available for such a scheme? Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks very much Adam

I just received this today. It was really cheap off eBay and I may end up just keeping it as a neat piece of history (I didn't buy it myself in Russia, but I have lived in Russia in the past). It's a 1/72 EE Lightning F.6 ... but it's a Soviet kit. I say Soviet instead of Russian because the price of "1 Ruble 50 Kopeks" tells me this was from the 1980s. There is no English anywhere on the box or the instructions. I can read and understand a bit of Russian, but nothing stuck out as a brand name. There is, however, a logo in the corner. It's actually not a bad kit. Good deal of flash, raised panel lines, visibly rough machining of the molds visible on some plastic parts, but it doesn't look terrible (I'm looking at you, Academy, and your "MiG-21" kit!). No internal detail to speak of and the decals are shot (the tissue has stuck to the decal film somewhat but they could probably be salvaged with Micro Scale or varnish or something), but it looks alright overall. Haven't decided whether or not I'm going to try to build it yet. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Here is a completion of mine from 2012. This is the Lightning F2A, built from the Airfix kit. I bought the kit and started it in 1998 when it first came out, but got stalled on it. I pulled it back off the shelf when I got the Eduard/Airfix reissue of the F1A/F2 as a review build for Modeling Madness. I was going to finish both kits concurrently, but ran into paint problems with the F2, so it got finished later. The kit recieved a Cutting Edge resin cockpit, but is otherwise stock. The NMF finish is Alclad II Aluminum. For the polished intake ring, I used Alclad Polished Aluminum over a base of Floquil CSX Black. The blue on the spine and tail is Xtracolor British Airways World Scheme Blue, which is a very close match to RAF Roundel Blue. Squadron markings and roundels are by Cutting Edge, with stencils and walkways from Barracudacals. For the gun openings, I used the smooth plates intended for the F3, and carefully drilled out the openings using a dental burr. The pucker factor was sky-high for this, but it worked, and they look much better than the poor kit offerings. (ASIDE: why hasn't some resin maker done good gun troughs for this model?) Andy Sarasota, FL